The World’s First Heartless Man

[n2doc]

By Zeon Santos in Health, Living, Pictures, Science & Tech on Feb 2, 2012 at 9:21 pm


Doctors from the Texas Heart Institute have successfully replaced a patient’s heart with a device that keeps the blood flowing, thereby allowing him to live without a detectable heartbeat or even a pulse. Here’s how it works:

The turbine-like device, that are simple whirling rotors, developed by the doctors does not beat like a heart, rather provides a ‘continuous flow’ like a garden hose.

Craig Lewis was a 55-year-old, dying from amyloidosis, which causes a build-up of abnormal proteins. The proteins clog the organs so much that they stop working, according to NPR.

But after the operation, with the ‘machine’ as his heart’s replacement, Lewis’ blood continued to spin and move through his body.

However, when doctors put a stethoscope to his chest, no heartbeat or pulse can be heard (only a ‘humming’ sound)—which “by all criteria that we conventionally use to analyze patients”, Doctor Cohn said, he is dead.

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I thought Dick Cheney had that distinction...

[Lint Head]

1. Cheney has 'never' had a heart.

[Kablooie]

21. He has a liver beating in his chest.

[baldguy]

22. That's not really fair. Of course Cheney has a heart.

He ripped it out of a homeless orphan's chest & has it in a jar sitting on a shelf in his crypt - er, I mean "office".

[Lint Head]

23. LOL! Good one. or from a freshly killed innocent Iraqi civilian.

or from a freshly killed innocent Iraqi civilian.

[flobee1]

2. I have one question

does the motor speed up when he increases activity?

[Warpy]

9. From my reading, no, so running marathons is out

The old Heartmate machines, which did produce a pulse, were capable of being set a little higher for intense physical activity. However, this design is smaller and has a lower power use, better for permanent implantation, and will allow a patient to get back to reasonable activity.

He'll have to hire somebody to move the piano, though.

[wyldwolf]

3. Captain Jean Luc Picard!

[eppur_se_muova]

4. Late by a few decades.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_heart#First_clinical_implantation_of_a_total_artificial_heart

[DaveJ]

5. Strange title, Not the first beatless heart

Still pretty amazing and interesting, to think about life depending on a mechanical device. And then to realize that we are just machines anyway. It's surprising we last as long as we do.

[FailureToCommunicate]

10. Mechanical devices have been important for a long time...

[MADem]

17. OMG. Look at that picture!!! Jesus! All those iron lungs!

I can't imagine having to endure that....of course they did save lives, but can you imagine being confined thusly?

[FailureToCommunicate]

20. Polio. A scourge in the 40' and 50's now rare, thanks to

medical research (Republicans take note)

[solarman350]

6. Wake Me From Stasis When We Get There....

I'm awaiting the organ farms and the clone-growth tanks (from the "Dune" series). Now, if you've STILL got a functioning mind, you can be hooked up to machines and still "live." All of the vital organs except the brain can be supplanted/replaced now. We even have synthetic blood to carry oxygen and waste products around in our "bodies."

http://www.ask.com/wiki/Blood_substitute

Duncan Idaho, DATA, and Captain Picard indeed!

[eggplant]

18. Waking from stasis has its own problems...

http://xkcd.com/989/

[a2liberal]

7. So he predates Republicans? :-P

j/k, neat story

[Scuba]

8. He could win a lot of bar bets.

[tclambert]

11. So what's his blood pressure?

How can you measure it? Is it just one number?

[MannyGoldstein]

12. Yes, it would be one number

You couldn't measure it with a standard cuff - but I suspect that the device reports pressure.

[Odin2005]

13. Damn, i thought this was going to be about Dick Cheney!

[Historic NY]

14. Dick is that you..........??

I don't think he is the first....whatabout the Jarvik heart in Barney clark.

[Rhiannon12866]

15. Everybody beat me to the Dick Cheney reference

The big difference here is that Cheney never did have a heart.

On the other hand, this is truly amazing!

[jtuck004]

16. I wonder if he doesn't respond the same to Circadian rythm

or if his perception of time, or the world, changes, without that rest in the pulse. What kind of music do machines with a living brain like? Now a different human, but with a major part that now runs rather than pulses - seems like it would change how he operates in the world, in ways that the patient might not even be aware of.

Or maybe not...

[Lucky Luciano]

19. haha - I knew Cheney's name had something to do with the OP!